PARAGON CITY – Heroes of a wide variety of backgrounds, shapes, sizes and colors stand arrayed in a line that stretches across half the base of the statue of Atlas in Atlas Park. Some wait patiently, others with a great deal of fidgeting, and all the while the buzz of a dozen conversations fill the air. All of this leading to the moment they’ve really been waiting for, when a member of ShadowAlliance SECTOR7 would announce, “The finalists have been chosen!”

Heroes waiting to be judged.

Costume contests are not an uncommon occurrence amongst the heroes of Paragon City. With the constant pressure of the city’s many gangs egging them on to constant combat, down time when heroes can get together and enjoy each other’s company is a highly valued commodity. Having a chance to display for others to see and judge the costumes that have become the symbols of their power is, in many ways as much a draw to many of those standing there as the large reputation boosts that a victory here could mean for them.

The Judges from ShadowAlliance Sector7

In this particular instance, the contest was held by the super group ShadowAlliance SECTOR7. ShadowAlliance SECTOR7 is a mid sized super group, centrally located here in Paragon City. They were able to promote a considerable amount of influence for the winner of today’s festivities, even third place earning approximately 1 million estimated influence “points”. After selecting their six finalists, the ShadowAlliance SECTOR7 judges led the party of finalists into city hall to complete the selection of the winning costumes.

The judging for the finalists was a long process in this case, partially attributable to the constant disruption of at least one determined heckler. There was much speculation among the crowd, with Lyria Evans being a crowd favorite for grand prize. After an interminable wait the third place winner of the contest, Gravity Striker was announced. During the intervening pause between announcing third place and second place winner, Arrow Guy, the furor of crowds often led to misunderstanding or false starts as some were confused as to whom they should be listening to for official announcements.

Third Place: Gravity Striker

First Place: Evalon

It was a tense interval between the announcement of second place and first place. Two of the crowd favorites, Lyria Evans and Evalon remained on the stand. There were even people still congratulating Lyria Evans on her win when Evalon was announced as the grand prize winner. “I feel very happy that they like what I made here,” Evalon responded when asked for comment. Gravity Striker was humble about her placement commenting, “there were quite a few awesome costumes. I was actually surprised I placed at all, much less in the top 3.”

One of the judges actively involved in the process, -Law, responded to inquiry, “It went good, lots of great costumes. Hard to pick.” Even with the general praise of many involved, the matter was still hardly a perfect occasion. More than a few hopefuls were left without the prize they had been seeking, and some in the audience weren’t entirely content with the overall results. Hallowed Shell, who was responsible for being the spokes-judge that called out the winners noted about the proceedings, “people are full of jealousy.”

You may reach the author of this article at Sara.Pickell [at] Gmail.com with any comments, information or corrections.